Founders of the Spanish Andalusian Horse Breed

In 2004, a paper "Pedigree analysis in the Andalusian horse; Population
structure, genetic variability, and influence of the Carthusian strain" was
published which explained much of the origins of the Andalusian (Pure
Spanish) horse population.

In 2004, the Spanish “studbook” was comprised of over 75,000 horses. 6318 (12%)
are Carthusian (old Bocado bloodlines). Average inbreeding of the Andalusian
population was estimated at 8.48% and average “relatedness” was 12.25%. The
author concludes that inbreeding in the Andalusian breed has a “remote
origin” and is linked to Carthusian individuals.

Most individuals in the Spanish studbook (79%) have been registered since 1980.

The Spanish horse breed basically started with about 2000 individual animals of which
almost 400 were Carthusian. “Base population was formed by 1465 individuals
with unknown parents (280 Carthusian) and 967 additional animals (181
Carthusian) from which only one parent was known. Thus, weighting the
unknown parent as half a founder, the equivalent number of founders for the
Andalusian horse breed was 1948.5 individuals (370.5 for the Carthusian
strain). “

The breeding farm contributing the most to the Spanish horse breed was Dominquez
Hermanos. However, the effective number of founders (those
passed down through the generations) was about 40. Most founders were
born before 1910.

A "Founder" is a horse with a particular historical origin - all the most
important founders were Carthusian. AR is average relatedness
coefficient. The non-Carthusian ancestor contributing the most was Maluso.

The article notes that although the Spanish horse breed is one of the most
ancient breeds in Europe, the present population descends from only a few
horses that survived the addition of Central European "massive horses" in
the 16th century. The recovery of the breed is attributed to the horses bred
by religious orders (the Carthusian monks) between the 18th and 19th
centuries. The monasteries tried to breed horses without foreign influence.

All the most important founders were Carthusian and the total
contribution of the Carthusian founders to the populations totalled 87.64%.
In other words, over 87% of today’s PRE horses can trace back to these
Carthusian founders. Maluso, a non-Carthusian, can be found in 5.37% of the
population.